Public Perception To Healthy Nutrition

Claw1821 · 03-01-2007, 12:00 PM

A couple times a week I will get the question from a friend/family member/someone from work "I want to lose weight what do you do". Now i am like most people on this site. I eat every three hours, i keep my protein high, low sugars, high fiber, and have a good weight lifting/cardio program. When i explain what I do people are almost shocked to hear it because they pretty much do nothing. I take at least two meals with me to work and sometimes a third if im going to the gym right from work.
Now i wish i could change these people that ask for help but they are pretty much looking for that quick fix but that just doesnt happen. I explain to them that diets dont work because for the most part they go from one extreme to another and they fall right off the wagon and eat terrible anyway. I tell them that they have to just adapt a healthy lifestyle of healthy eating and working out a couple days a week.
For the people that know me I used to be fat. After high school I stopped working out and eating like crap. One day I tipped the scales at 308lbs and I pretty much snapped and the next day I was on a strick diet and exercise program. In 3 months i lost about 90lbs and got down to 225 but i had lost alot of muscle.
Through that weight lose I learned the basics of nutrition and exercise. Where now I have the body that i want but i still have room to improve. Now whenever i go out with friends to restaurants and see what they order I am just shocked because i know that i used to eat like that.
I just wish that I could help everyone adapt a healthy lifestyle so that we can stop the obesity of the majority of the public especially the young.

KryptoKnight · 03-01-2007, 12:09 PM

You know, I've had people in my family ask me how to lose weight etc etc. And yeah, no one can really follow the routine that I would normally do. I give them a little more leniency and just stress the fact that exercise and healthi-er foods are the key. I do not tell them to eat oats everyday etc etc. Usually it works as long as they keep a good exercise regime up.

Skull Crusher Chris · 03-01-2007, 12:09 PM

i agree but some people dont want to be helped

BigStew · 03-01-2007, 12:46 PM

Its hard, but theres nothing you can do. Some people don't want to be helped.

Struct09 · 03-01-2007, 12:52 PM

I used to be overweight, and people from my work frequently ask me about eating and exercising properly. Of course, none of them ever listen, and just keep on doing what they're doing. The one person who listened to me was my mother, who ended up losing ~60 lbs and is in the best shape of her life at the age of 53.

Open Palm · 03-01-2007, 02:12 PM

Yeah I run into that problem. Someone asks me, i'll explain in full detail pretty much what the standard person on this site does, little less strict of course. They nod their heads and agree like im the Buddha or something, then the next day their back to what they were doing... its rediculous. Ive even written several full nutrition/workout programs for people, and they rarely follow it through. Only two of my friends have ever taken my advice seriously, and theyve made gigantic gains thus far, and are getting more obsessive than I, haha.

KryptoKnight · 03-01-2007, 02:16 PM

I get the feeling when people ask, that of course they're not really seirous about getting into shape. My sister must have asked me 5 times what to do before she finally decided to take my advice the 6th time she asked. People are just curious I guess, but never take the information seriously.

Death From Above · 03-01-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claw1821

A couple times a week I will get the question from a friend/family member/someone from work "I want to lose weight what do you do". Now i am like most people on this site. I eat every three hours, i keep my protein high, low sugars, high fiber, and have a good weight lifting/cardio program. When i explain what I do people are almost shocked to hear it because they pretty much do nothing. I take at least two meals with me to work and sometimes a third if im going to the gym right from work.
Now i wish i could change these people that ask for help but they are pretty much looking for that quick fix but that just doesnt happen. I explain to them that diets dont work because for the most part they go from one extreme to another and they fall right off the wagon and eat terrible anyway. I tell them that they have to just adapt a healthy lifestyle of healthy eating and working out a couple days a week.
For the people that know me I used to be fat. After high school I stopped working out and eating like crap. One day I tipped the scales at 308lbs and I pretty much snapped and the next day I was on a strick diet and exercise program. In 3 months i lost about 90lbs and got down to 225 but i had lost alot of muscle.
Through that weight lose I learned the basics of nutrition and exercise. Where now I have the body that i want but i still have room to improve. Now whenever i go out with friends to restaurants and see what they order I am just shocked because i know that i used to eat like that.
I just wish that I could help everyone adapt a healthy lifestyle so that we can stop the obesity of the majority of the public especially the young.

awesome post, i can relate i try and help friends out all the time but they dont understand that it takes a SERIOUS lifestyle change combined with determination and knowledge to effectively achieve a certain goal. I been at this for about 2 years now and hell i still learn new **** every day.

smkenne2 · 03-01-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigStew

Its hard, but theres nothing you can do. Some people don't want to be helped.

I don't think it is so much that people don't want to be helped, but more that people do not want to put in the effort. I have told many people countless times how to get into shape and their life, and they take it all in, and ask me questions. But rarely do they ever implement it, because they say it is too difficult. Discipline is key, and you can't help someone when they don't want to make the effort.

two choices · 03-01-2007, 03:02 PM

yes, i've had both my mother and my father, my brother, and a few of my friends ask me about what to do to get healthier. so i tell them what foods to avoid and why, and even developed a typed-up workout plan for my dad. and not a single one of them changed anything.

i didn't even give them that strict of a diet or anything, just told them what foods to avoid (lots of soda, alcohol, simple sugars) and the workout stuff i told them to do was simple, and not terribly advanced at all. they just find out what it takes and they don't want to put in the effort.

if i had a nickel for every time my dad said he was going to start walking, i'd have some money. he's got a friggin' weight set and bench set up upstairs at his house and he STILL doesn't use it. he has everything he needs to get healthy and he chooses not to. he has enough money to eat right, enough time to workout or walk, but he doesn't. it drives me up a fukking wall.

the worst is that THEY ask YOU, not you offer unsolicited help. and when you give it to them, they don't want to hear it.

smkenne2 · 03-01-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by two choices

the worst is that THEY ask YOU, not you offer unsolicited help. and when you give it to them, they don't want to hear it.

I've had my fiance's sister ask me countless times about getting in shape and everytime I tell her something she goes, "Oh, well I've known that forever...I already new that!" Knowing something doesn't mean anything if you don't implement it.

grapemaster · 03-01-2007, 04:36 PM

i only offer help if asked, usually even the basic stuff is too much for them (i.e. solely WHAT to eat) not how much, how often, what ratios etc...they can't even begin to eat clean

there was a lady today that would not eat my mix I had... dried blueberries, dried cherries, dried figs, walnuts, almonds and pistachios... she said way too much fat for her after reading the label ... yet she is constantly eating 100 calorie packs of oreos and thinks its healthy, and had eaten a small portion of sausage and cheese pizza for lunch

. I mean she blatantly refused to eat the stuff I was eating.

A HUGE problem of people eating healthy is the general ignorance of what is actually healthy.

they can do their 100 calorie packs, lean cuisine and ****ing pilates class to hell freezes over for all i care, people don't wanna hear the truth.

ZDub212 · 03-01-2007, 06:33 PM

Yeah...people always ask me how I lost so much weight...and I tell them, "diet and exercise." Then they stare at me like...no way, that can't be it.

Tormented · 03-01-2007, 06:39 PM

For the types of people who are asking you these questions, what to eat is not as important as how much to eat. So when you lay out a full fledged "simple" program that involves avoiding 70 percent of the food they currently eat, changing when they eat, paying attention to food macros, and then doing frequent cardio and weightlifting... of course they're going to look at you like you're crazy and walk away. Duh. If an out of shape person wants to start running and to get healthier would you start diagramming programs, intensity, nutritional macro ratios pre and post run, and tell them which step to exhale on, etc? No, you'd tell them to get the f--k out there and do some running (except nicer) a couple times per week and when they come back to you in two weeks having done so THEN you can give them something more advanced.

Just tell the person who asks you how to lose weight to start cutting out dessert and do some cardio. If they want more then give it, but most people just want the *real basics*. That alone will give a noob some results and therefore some confidence to put more effort into it. Once a person starts doing something about it, give them more advice and they'll be more likely to follow.